Defining And Measuring Biodiversity

Overview

In response to the variable effects of conservation efforts and loss of biodiversity, zoos began to turn their attention to the conservation of endangered species and wildlife in the 1970s and 1980s. Supporting conservation efforts became an important goal for the modern zoo. A major milestone towards this goal was the Convention on Biodiversity which was signed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. As the modern zoo continues to focus its efforts towards conservation, it has been seen by many as a sort of “Noah’s Ark,” primarily focused on conserving the precious few endangered species. Unfortunately, genetic, ecosystem and economic issues have created challenges for the conservation model of the modern zoo. Read the following articles that expand on the conservation efforts of zoos and their use of technology towards this goal.

Readings

Keulartz, J. (2015). Captivity for conservation? Zoos at a crossroads. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics.

Kobilinsky, D. (2016). New live cam technology might help conservation. Accessed August 13, 2016, at http://wildlife.org/new-live-cam-technology-might-help-conservation/.

Genetics

Research has shown that zoos currently hold about 15% of the endangered land animals in captivity. There remains a continual struggle to breed these animals due to low numbers. A zoo’s ability to maintain enough genetic variability among individual species is impossible and space limitations prevent expansion to allow the influx of more animals.

Economics

The secondary goal for many zoos, that of reintroduction to the wild, also faces challenges due to the costs involved, from financial to ecological. Animals living in captivity often lose the necessary skills to survive in the wild once released.

Ecosystems

Lastly, the ecosystems into which the captive animals are eventually released are constantly changing. Many factors may have affected their previous habitat, preventing the animal’s chance at a successful re-introduction to the wild.

Education and Technology

Technology and education have also been identified as important components in maintaining the biodiversity of the natural world. Zoos are in a unique position to educate the public about conservation issues and they are continually looking for ways to convey this information to visitors. The Metro Richmond Zoo uses video cam technology to encourage cheetah conservation by streaming live footage of cheetah litters online. Viewers witness the day-to-day lives of the cheetah cubs without human interference or disturbance.

Answer the following questions in complete sentences using an essay format. See the SLP Assignment Expectations for further directions on formatting and organization.

Assignment Directions:

1. Discuss how zoos have evolved over the past 50 years to become conservation centers. Incorporate the role of zoos in educating the public into your response.
2. Discuss some of the economic pressures faced by zoos—namely space, capacity, and resources—that can affect their conservation efforts.
3. How does a species get on the Endangered Species List?
4. Take a virtual trip to the zoo using one of the links below and observe at least one of the endangered species.

Take a Virtual Visit to the Zoo

You can take a virtual visit to the zoo any day of the week by tuning into any of the following live webcams, which feature many endangered animals. The World Wildlife Fund lists many of these animals as priority species.

• Watch elephants at the Smithsonian Zoo on the elephant cam:
• The Houston Zoo has some of the best webcams of gorillas, rhinos, elephants, flamingos, and giraffes here: http://www.houstonzoo.org/meet-the-animals/animal-webcams/
• The Reid Park Zoo in Arizona has webcams of lions, giraffes, elephants, lemurs, grizzly bears, and flamingos here: http://reidparkzoo.org/cameras/elephant-cam/
• See pandas, elephants, apes or polar bears (the elephant has the most informative cam view) at the San Diego Zoo
• Pick an animal webcam of your choice

5. Make your own ethogram. An ethogram is a graph or chart of animal behavior that is used to compare certain behaviors that can be observed while animals are in captivity. Choose one animal from the webcam links above and observe its behavior at several different times during the day or over the course of several days. Take notes on its behavior using the ethnogram (include this chart in your essay). Choose 4 or 5 different time points (on the hour or half hour, it does not need to be the same day or the exact time point).

Give your chart a title and include it in your essay.

Ethogram Document

6. Did your perception of the species you watched change as a result of seeing it on the webcam? Why or why not?
7. Do you believe technology has a positive influence on people’s feelings toward wildlife and conservation? Why or why not?

SLP Assignment Expectations

Organize this essay assignment using subtitles that summarize the topic from each question above. For example, to answer Question 1, use a descriptive subtitle like the following: The Evolution of Zoos.Answer each question under the subtitle using complete sentences that relate back to the question. Be sure to use APA formatting throughout your essay with 1-inch margins, 12-point type, and double spacing throughout. Include a title page, introduction, answers to the questions with subtitles, and concluding paragraph. Remember to include in-text citations within the body of the essay referencing your resources (e.g., Murray, 2014). Also, be sure to include a reference section at the end of your assignment listing all required readings and any additional resources you used to complete your essay. A helpful guide to writing a quality essay can be found in Trident’s Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper. This guide also provides links to example essays written in APA format.

ANSWER

The Evolution of Zoos

Over the last century, zoos have evolved in many ways, from places for the entertainment of people, into conservation centers. In the older days, zoos were owned by the royals, and affluent families, as places for housing animals, to offer entertainment of visitors and tourists. Queens and other monarchs, kingdoms, municipalities, and monasteries were the owners of the then private animal collections (menageries). These menageries, over the years, became public property. This transition was the birth of new animal collection centers, zoos.

The late 1970s and early 1980s came with the shifting of roles by zoos, from centers for entertainment to conservation places for endangered and rare animals. Today, zoos offer a center for animal protection, captive animal breeding, conservation study and animal conservation programs (Keulartz, 2015). Modern Zoos give the public services such as the provision of centers for education on the importance of conservation of wildlife. They also participate in, and sometimes sponsor, conservation activities in the society (Conde, Flesness, Colchero, Jones, Scheuerlein, 2011).

Challenges Facing Zoos

Many animal species are on the verge of extinction. Zoos and other places of animal conservation are therefore obliged to carry out conservation efforts and program, to try and minimize the rate of extinction, and discover ways of saving the remaining endangered species or multiply them. However, zoos are facing various challenges in their quest to minimize extinction. Most of the time, zoos are established on small pieces of land. These areas are inadequate for housing a large number of animals. Sometimes zoos are forced to free some animals so as to bring in new captives. Another constraint is the scarcity of zoos in many regions with endangered animals. Officials with the expertise of animal husbandry, breeding, and handling of wildlife are few. Zoos are left to depend on the services of a few individuals who rotate from one zoo to another. Moreover, limited resources provided to zoos cripple their ability to handle a significant number of animals. Zoos suffer from a scarcity of funds and facilities such as vehicles and laboratories, making conservation efforts difficult.

Criterion for Listing a Species on the Endangered Species List

Any species that is facing the threat of being completely wiped out from the world, or a specific habitat, is referred to as an endangered species. There is also the term ‘threatened species’, which is used to refer to a species that has the likelihood of entering the endangered species bracket in the near future. The Endangered Species Act keeps a list of these animals and consolidates efforts to protect them. The major reasons for the determination of whether a certain species can be listed on the list are the loss of the species’ habitat, the illegal hunting of the species, pollution affecting the species, and the upcoming of another species in the same habitat. If these reasons necessitate for the inclusion of the species on the Endangered Species List, the government marks the species’ habitat as one that requires special conservation attention and protection.

Ethogram for the General Behavior Observation of Elephants at the Smithsonian Zoo

The web cameras set up at the Smithsonian zoo were set up by volunteers to enable the visitors of the zoo’s website to observe the zoo’s six elephants at their community center and around the yards of the zoo. I observed these elephants for a day and created an Ethogram from the encounter. The Ethogram I created focused on one of the six elephants, over a period of ten hours. Data was recorded every hour.

Effect of Watching the live Webcam on my Perception of the Elephant Species

Watching Asian elephants at the Smithsonian zoo left me with a very concerned attitude. The elephants are the largest land animals and are a species that are very social and intelligent. The fact that elephants are on the endangered species list leaves me with worry, that the future generation might not get a chance to see such huge and intelligent mammals. Conservation and protection efforts should be sustained, to ensure that they do not become extinct.

The Effect of Technology on People’s Feelings toward Wildlife and Conservation Efforts

Watching live webcams on wildlife is a very entertaining task. Watchers develop an intimate relationship with the animals, watching their behavior at any point in the day. This kind of exposure is only possible with the development of technological devices (Kobilinsky, 2016). Technology enhances how we interact with wildlife, and the access to information about wildlife, information such as The Endangered Species List. Observing wildlife and getting to learn about the different animals changes one’s perception about wildlife, causing us to develop an attitude of care towards them. Technological advancements play a positive role in the conservation efforts of zoos and government bodies (Kobilinsky, 2016).

References

Keulartz, J. (2015). Captivity for conservation? Zoos at a crossroads. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics.

Kobilinsky, D. (2016). New live cam technology might help conservation. Accessed August 13, 2016, at http://wildlife.org/new-live-cam-technology-might-help-conservation/.

Conde, D. A., Flesness, N., Colchero, F., Jones, O. R., & Scheuerlein, A. (2011). An emerging role of zoos to conserve biodiversity. Science, 331(6023), 1390-1391.